John h



P (-No Model.) 7

J. H.- SOHARLING. rnoonss 0F DECORATING GLAss.

No. 472,230. Patented Apr. 5, 1892,

ATTORNEY.

rrn STATES ATENT O FICE.

JOHN H. SCHARLING, OF NEWVARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR. TO THE XVYMBLEMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

PROCESS OF DECORATlNG GLASS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,230, dated April 5,1892.

Application filed July 1, 1891. Serial No. 898,158. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. SCHARLING, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DecoratingGlass, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in decorating glass and otherware with metal, and more particularly to the decoration of articleshaving non-conducting surfaces with gold, silver, or other preciousmetal, or with any two or more of the same.

It is a well-known fact to those skilled in the art that in depositingmetal upon glass or other non-conducting surfaces the deposit forms uponthe under sides thereof, while the upper side or sides thereof remainuncovered or only imperfectly covered, and therefore in coating glassorother articles of around, oval, cylindrical, or of other shape than flatit has been necessary to metallize the non-conducting surface of thearticle under treatment by first applying a coating or covering of vargnish, cement, or other adhesive substance and then a coating ofplumbago, bronze, or other metallic powder. The articles thus treated issubmerged in an electroplatingbath and the decorative metal depositedthereon, the article being finally completed by cutting away a portionor portions of the metal and also by engraving, etching, dzc. Certainobjections, however, have been urged against this class of goods,namely: the black inner surface of the metal due to the application ofthe plumbago or metallic powder, which gives to the article an unsightlyand displeasing appearance, especially to articles-such as cups orbowlswhich have a large open top and the inner surface of which isplainly visible; also to those articles from which large portions of thesurrounding metal have been cut away or removed and the dark innersurface of which can be plainlyseen through the open metal-work.

A further objection to the process above referred to is that the fragilearticles require a great amount of handling before they are in readinessfor the electroplating-bath, the consequent danger of breakage beingcorrespondingly great.

'The object of my inventionis to overcome these defects both in theprocess and product by first cheapening the process, and therefore theproduct; secondly, producing an article with a bright inner surface,thereby adding to instead of detracting from the artistic appearance andvalue thereof, and, thirdly, to devise a process whereby the necessityof so much handling of the article will to a great extent be overcomeand the danger of breakage lessened.

WVith these ends in view my invention con-- sistsin dispensing entirelywith the first two steps of the process above referred tothat is,omitting, first, the step of applying the adhesive, and, secondly, theplumbago or metallic powderand forming directly on the article a thincoating or envelope of silver or other metal.

I am aware that others have heretofore attempted to accomplish this endby entirely immersing the article in abath and allowing the metal insolution to deposit thereon; but, as before stated, it has always beenfound impracticable, owing to the well-known fact that the envelope orcoating of metal will not perfectly form on the upper sides or surfaceof the immersed article, and also by reason of the fact that thesolution-an item of great expense-in a few minutes becomes worthless byreason of the precipitation of the metal therein, the quantity necessaryto completely submerge the article being very large.

After various experiments 1 have learned that articles may be decoratedwith metal by making a small quantity of solutiona quantity justsufficient to form a coating on the article under treatment, the exactquantity of course depending entirely upon the size of said article orthe surface to be covered, a few trials by the operator enabling him tojudge of the quantity necessary to be made to coat any given surface.For example, I may state that I have found that about eight ounces ofany of the ordinary silver solutions used in making mirrors will besufficient to cover the outer surfaces of a pint bottle.

